Past Events
Learn More About the Persian Studies Program by Viewing This Gallery of Our Past Events
2015 · 2014 · 2013 · 2012 · 2011
March 2017
Annual Norouz Concert
to celebrate the arrival of Spring!
March 19, 2017, 2pm
SJSU Student Union Theater
A Reading and Discussion of The Conference of the Birds
Join us for a night of Persian poetry and wisdom with poet/translator Sholeh Wolpé
Tuesday, March 14, 2017, 7pm
Dr. Martin King Jr Library, Room 255
February 2017
"A Life in Film" — Remembering Global FilmMaker Abbas Kiarostami — Film-screening and discussion with San Francisco's own Ahmad Kiarostami (son of the
late director) and Hossein Khowsrojah
February 16, 2017, 7pm
Hammer Center Theater
101 Paseo San Antonio, San Jose, CA
December 2016
A Celebration of Shab-Yalda — The Longest Night of the Year
December 17, 2016, 7pm
Yeganeh Bakery
3275 Stevens Creek Boulevard, San Jose
Free and Open to the Public
"Home Yet Far Away" — Film-screening and discussion with Bay Area filmmaker Sabereh Kashi
December 11, 2016, 2pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
Free and Open to the Public
November 2016
"Shi'te Clerics and Political Modernization of Iran"
A Lecture by Dr. Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh, Associate Professor, Department of History, Northeastern Illinois University
November 9, 2016, 7pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
October, 2016
Engaging Iran and the Iran Diaspora after the Nuclear Agreement: Opportunities and
Challenges
October 21, 2016, 9am-5pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
"Together Tea" World Premiere of the Stage Adaption
October 21, 2016, 7:30pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
Keynote Public Lecture with Dr. Juan Cole, Professor of History, University of Michigan
October 20, 2016, 7pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
September, 2016
"Riza-yi Abbasi and the Art of Sixteenth Century Persia"
with Naciem Nikkhah, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cambridge
September 27, 2016, 7pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
Spring, 2016
Roshan Institute Lecture Series
March, 2016
Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Shirin Ebadi In Conversation with SJSU Persian Studies
Director Persis Karim
The first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Shirin Ebadi, in conversation with
San Jose State University Persian Studies Program Director, Persis Karim.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
SOLD OUT
(Transcript of conversation will be available online shortly)
“If you go on as you are now, we will be forced to end your life. If you value it, stop slandering the Islamic Republic. Stop all this noise you are making outside the country. Killing you is the easiest thing we could do.”
In Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shirin Ebadi’s memoir, Until We Are Free: My Fight for Human Rights in Iran, Ebadi chronicles how these words were written on a notepad and thumbtacked to her front door in Iran. Until We are Free charts Iran’s tumultuous 20th century history and the years of personal intimidations she received from the Islamic Republic of Iran—wiretapping her phones, bugging her law firm, sending spies to follow her, arresting her sister, and even confiscating her Nobel medal.
Ebadi says it wasn’t until she received a phone call from her distraught husband—the Iranian government set a trap for Ebadi’s husband filming a staged liaison, putting him on trial, and making him denounce her on camera—that she realized what the intelligence apparatus was capable of doing to silence its critics.
Ebadi will be in conversation with Persis Karim, a professor in the Department of English & Comparative Literature at San Jose State University the Director of their Persian Studies Program.
"Shirin Ebadi has paid a tremendous price for defending women's rights, human rights, and the rights of dissidents in Iran,” says Persis Karim. “Her work and her commitment are particularly inspiring to women and to Iranians of the diaspora worldwide."
Persis Karim will speak with Shirin Ebadi about Until We Are Free: My Fight for Human Rights in Iran on Wednesday, March 9, 2016, 7:30 p.m. at Kepler’s Book in Menlo Park, California. A transcript of the sold out conversation with Shirin Ebadi will be available on San Jose State University’s Persian Studies program shortly.
For inquiries contact Persis Karim at persis.karim@sjsu.edu.
***
Dr. Shirin Ebadi was born in 1947 in Hamadan, Iran. Educated in Tehran, she became one of Iran’s first female judges, and in 1975, the youngest and first female chief magistrate of Iran’s 26th Divisional Court. Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, all female judges were dismissed. In 1992, Dr. Ebadi set up a private practice handling contentious cases and was incarcerated, charged with spreading lies against the Islamic Republic. In 2003, she won the Nobel Peace Prize and used some of the prize money to set up the Defenders of Human Rights Center. Dr. Ebadi left Iran for a conference shortly before the June 2009 presidential election and did not return. The government filed a legal case against her, confiscated her properties on the pretext of unpaid taxes, and arrested her sister and husband. Dr. Ebadi continues her activities in de facto exile.
Persis Karim is a professor in the Department of English & Comparative Literature
at San Jose State University. She is also the founding director of Persian Studies.
She is the editor of three anthologies of Iranian diaspora literature, and has written
numerous articles on Iranian-American literature and culture. You can learn more about
her work at www.persiskarim.com.
March, 2016
Norooz: Persian New Year
A concert of classical and folk Persian music to celebrate Norooz and the arrival
of Spring with performances by "Saba Ensemble"
March 6, 2016, 7pm
SJSU Student Union Theater
Free and Open to the Public
Iranian-American filmmaker, Ana Lily Amirpour's
"A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night"
March 3, 2016, 5:30pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
Free and Open to the Public
February, 2016
Dr. Amy Malek, Scripps College
"Producing Culture & Citizenship in the Iranian Diaspora"
February 25, 2016, 7pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
Free and Open to the Public
Fall, 2015
Full Schedule
November, 2015
A Film Screening of "Fifi Howls with Happiness"– A Film by Mitra Farahani about the life and art of acclaimed Iranian artist Bahman
Mohassess
With a discussion with Marjaneh Moghimi, Producer of "Fifi Howls with Happiness"
November 18, 2015, 6:30pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
Free and Open to the Public
October, 2015
A reading and discussion with NY-based poet, Soraya Shalforoosh
"This Version of Earth: Growing up Persian-American in Poems"
October 15, 2015, 5:30pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
Free and Open to the Public
A Lecture with Arash Davari on Modern Iranian Thought and Politics
"A Return to Which Self? Ali Shari'ati and the Articulation of an Indeterminate Collective
Subject in Revolutionary Iran"
October 6, 2015, 7pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
Free and Open to the Public
September, 2015
"Operation Ajax, The Story of The Coup in Iran"
A Lecture with Artist/Illustrator Daniel Burwen
September 8, 2015, 7:00-8:30pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
Free and Open to the Public
April, 2015
"A Matter of Perspective, Discovering and Exploring Iran through Photography"
A talk and discussion with Professor Fereshteh Dianat, Alzahra University, Tehran,
Iran
April 15, 2015, 6:30pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
March, 2015
"Waves of Freedom: How Surfing is Bridging Barriers in Iran and Women are Leading
the Way"
A film screening of Into the Sea and a discussion with international surfer and environmental and women's rights activist
Easkey Britton
March 5, 2015, 5:00pm-8:00pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
"Norouz: Persian New Year"
a concert of classical and folk Persian music to celebrate Norouz and the Arrival
of Spring
March 8, 2015, 2:00pm-6:00pm
SJSU Student Union Theater
"Through Different Eyes"
a photography exhibit and collaboration between SJSU photography students at SJSU
and students at Alzahara University in Tehran, Iran
March 12, 2015 at 6:30 pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
"Re-Visioning Sohrab Sepehri and Other Adventures in Poetic Translation"
A lecture with Kazim Ali
March 18, 2015 at 6:30 pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
Fall/Winter, 2014
"Book of Kings, The Shahnameh"
A Series of Lectures by Iraj Tabibnia and the Guerdayesh Shahnameh Group
10 weekly lectures, September 6-December 6, 2014
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
November, 2014
"East-West Cultural Transmissions in Post Mongol Iran"
Ladan Akbarnia
November 13, 2014 at 6:00 pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255/257
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
"Off the Curtain: The Tragedy of Rostam and Sohrab"
Sara Mashayekh
November 15, 2014 at 7:00 pm
SJSU Student Union Theater
1 Washington Sq, San Jose, CA 95192
October, 2014
"Iran: A Smartphone Photographer's Perspective"
by Omid Scheybani
October 14, 2014 at 6:30 pm
Industrial Studies Building, Room IS 219
"Persian Miniature Painting and the Shahnameh"
by Dr. Johanna Movassat
October 16, 2014 at 7:00 pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Library – room 255
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose, CA 95112
May, 2014
"The Elements"
An exhibit of Paintings by Mehri Yazdani
May 1- May 29, 2014, DiNapoli Gallery, MLK Library, SJSU
Opening Reception
May 8th, 2014, 6-8PM, Room 255, MLK Library, SJSU
April, 2014
"US-Iran Relations at the Six-Month Mark: Prospects for Long-Term Diplomacy and a
Negotiated Agreement"
A Lecture by Dr. Muhammad Sahimi, USC
Thursday, April 24th, 2014, 7 PM, Room 255 MLK Library, SJSU
"Cultures of the Iranian Diaspora"
Conference on Cultures of the Iranian Diaspora
April 11th - 12th, 2014, MLK Library Room 225/229 and 255
"Shaping and Making a Future: Iranian American Business and Technology Leaders in
Silicon Valley"
Lecture by Dr. Kathrine Richardson
Dept. of Geography, SJSU
April 2nd, 2014 , 12 PM
Instructional Resource Center IRC Room 101, SJSU
March, 2014
"Welcome Spring: Norouz"
A Concert of Classical and Folk Persian Music to celebrate Norouz and Arrival of Spring
Featuring Mahvash Guerami, Santour and Hossein Massoudi, Vocals & Bay area Iranian American Children's Choral Group
Tuesday March 9th, 2014, 3 pm Student Union Ballroom, San Jose State University
February, 2014
"Days of Revolution : Political Protest in an Iranian Village"
Reading and Discussion with Dr.Mary Elaine Hegland
Santa Clara University
Tuesday February 25th, 2014
7 pm MLK Library Room 255/257
"Jews of Iran"
A Lecture with Dr. Jaleh Pirnazar Near Eastern Studies, UC Berkeley
Tuesday February 18th, 2014
7 pm MLK Library Room 255/257
November, 2013
"The Inner is True, The Rest is Chance"
A Discussion of the Persian Mystic Fariduddin Attar's Conference of the Birds
Thursday November 7th, 2013
7 pm MLK Library Room 255/257
October, 2013
"Changing the National Conversation on the Middle East, One Play at a Time"
Talk by Torange Yeghiazarian, Founding Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions
Wednesday October 30th, 2013
7 pm MLK Library Room 255
"Love and Pomegranates: Artists and Wayfarers on Iran"
Reading with editor Meghan Sayres and contributing authors: Azin Arefi, Jasmin Darznik,
Farnaz Fatemi & Brian Appleton
Thursday October 10th, 2013
7 pm MLK Library Room 255/257
"The Cat and the Coup"
Decoded by Kurosh ValaNejad and Comments by George Vasquez
Tuesday October 8th, 2013
7 pm MLK Library Room 255
September, 2013
"Cyrus the Great & Achaemenid Persia in World History"
Lecture by Professor John Lee
Wednesday September 4th, 2013
7 pm MLK Library 225
April, 2013
Iran's Upcoming Election and Nuclear Dispute
Dr. Dariush Zahedi
Thursday April 11, 2013
7 pm MLK Library 225/229
Tremors Reading and Book singing
Thursday April 4, 2013
7 pm MLK Library 225/229
Iranian American Writers
"Just a Piece of Cloth"
Film Screening
Tuesday April 2, 2013 6:30-8:00pm
MLK Library 225/229
March, 2013
Iranian Women Occupying Facebook: Identity and Resistance
By Dr. Shahin Gerami
March 19, 2013, 5:30pm - 7:30 pm MLK Library 255/257
Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here
March 14, 2013 7 pm
MLK Library Room 225/229
Welcome Spring: A Concert of Classical and Folk Persian Music To Celebrate Norouz and the Arrival
of Spring
Mahvash Guerami (Santour) and Hossein Massoudi (Vocals)
Sunday March 10, 2013 3 pm with Tea and Sweets Reception at 2:30pm
SJSU Engineering Auditorium (Rm 189)
Free and Open to the Public
November, 2012
Nuclear Ambitions, Human Rights, and the future of US-Iran Relations
Dr. Mahmoud Monshipouri, San Francisco State University
Nazy Kaviani, Committee to Protect Journalists
Firuzeh Mahmoudi, United for Iran
November 29, 7 pm, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Room 225/229
San Jose State University, 4th and San Fernando St.
Reading and conversation with Bay Area Iranian-American Novelist Anita Amirrezvani, author of Equal of the Sun
November 19, 7 pm
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Room 225/229
San Jose State University, 4th and San Fernando St.
October, 2012
Ghazal Games — An Evening with Iranian-American Poet and Translator Roger Sedarat
Thursday, October 11, 2012, 7 PM
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Room 225/229
San Jose State University, 4th and San Fernando St.
April, 2012
[April 12, 2012]
baharaneh
An Evening of Music & Poetry to Celebrate Spring
March, 2012
[March 11, 2012]
The History of Women in Ancient and Early Medieval Iran
Dr. Touraj Darayee
[March 8, 2012]
Recollections: Art & the Archive of an Iranian-American Journey:
Works by Acclaimed Bay Area Artist Taraneh Hemami
Taraneh Hemami explores themes of displacement, preservation, and representation in
personal and collective projects, from permanent and ephemeral installations to object
and media productions. 
February, 2012
[February 23, 2012]
Dog Sweat Special Screening
Q&A with Film Director Hossein Keshavarz
October, 2011
[October 21, 2011]
An Evening with Marina Nemat, author "Prisoner of Tehran" & "After Tehran: A Life
Reclaimed"
